No-Frills Recipes ... cooking, baking & excerpts on travel

Loaded with freshly sliced apples, this yoghurt apple cake is moist and slightly sweet.   Before serving I added a sprinkling of powdered sugar on top, which is the 'icing on the cake'! Yoghurt Apple Cake ~   酸奶苹果蛋糕 Ingredients (A) 4 'L' egg yolks 13 gm caster sugar 20 ml vegetable oil 54 gm plain yoghurt 67 gm plain flour (B) 4 egg whites 27 gm caster sugar 2 apples, cored and sliced without skin Method Sift the plain flour, set aside. Beat egg yolks with sugar, add in oil and yoghurt.  Mix well. Beat egg whites till frothy, gradually add in sugar and beat till stiff peaks, but not dry. Fold 1/3 egg whites into the egg yolk mixture, then pour this into the remaining egg whites, mix in well. Pour the batter into an ungreased 8 inch springform pan, tap the pan to remove air  bubbles. Place and arrange the apple slices onto the cake. Bake in a preheated oven @ 180 deg.C for 50 to 55 mins. till golden brown a...

This honey flavoured vanilla frozen yoghurt is an A,B,C recipe.  Just dump all the ingredients into a mixing bowl, plunge in an immersion blender, blend till the mixture is smooth, then keep in the refrigerator overnight.  The next day, I freezed it in the ice cream maker and it could be served straightaway or freezed further for a desired firmer texture.  A bit tart though, so added a sprinkling of dried berries for more sweetness and nuts for added crunch! Recipe for Honey Vanilla Frozen Yoghurt  ~   蜂蜜 香 草 优 格 Ingredients 1 litre low fat plain yoghurt 1/2 cup honey Vanilla seeds from a Vanilla pod a pinch of salt Method In a mixing bowl blend all the above ingredients using an immersion blender till mixture is smooth. Cling wrap the mixture, keep refrigerated overnight. Freeze in the ice cream maker for 30 mins. Pour the mixture into a container and keep in the freezer before serving.  I'm submitting this post to...

This is a buttery lemon flavoured pound cake, dense but moist with Rum flavoured dried cranberries. The texture is kept moist due to the cranberry liquid that was used to brush all over the cake.   Instead of frosting, I took the easy way out, just dusted with some snow powder before serving. Recipe for Lemony Cranberry Pound Cake    (adapted from  'here'  with modification)    柠檬 蔓越莓 蛋糕   Ingredients                                             455 gm plain flour 6 eggs 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 227 gm butter 400 gm sugar  (reduced from 600 gm) 2 Tbsp lemon zest 1/2 Tbsp vanilla 240 ml yoghurt/sour cream (I used yoghurt) Cranberries 80 ml lemon juice from 2 to 3 large lemons 2 Tbsp Brandy (I used Rum) 100 gm cranberries, chopped (Soak the cranberries, lemon juice and...

These afternoon tea muffins are delicious with honey and a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar.  The Peckham pears gave an added crunch and moisture to these not too sweet treats.   Enjoy these with a cup of hot beverage or a glass of cold milk! Recipe for Pear and Honey Muffins ~  密糖 梨 满 芬 Ingredients 8 oz plain flour 3 oz sugar 3 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 1 tsp cinnamon 1 cup Yoghurt 1/4 cup melted butter or Canola Oil  ( I used Canola Oil) 1/4 cup honey 1 tsp vanilla 1 egg 1 cup diced Peckham pear Brown sugar + a bit of cinnamon for sprinkling Method Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Set aside. Whisk egg, yoghurt, honey, vanilla and oil.  Pour this into the dry ingredients Gently stir in the pears, do not overmix. Scoop onto paper lined muffin pan.  Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon mixture. Bak...

I was wondering how best to make use of some hazelnut meal languishing in my fridge when I stumbled upon this recipe.  This recipe is rather easy to put together with a few simple ingredients that are easily available.  The texture is moist, almost similar to pound cake with a tinge of  nutty flavour, light and yum!

This is the first time that I'm using sweet potatoes in a curry and was very eager to see how this would fare.  The curry turned out to be rich, not heavy with a slight sweet, creamy onion sauce that just melts in your mouth and most important, it was well received by my family members.

Baked this Mango Yoghurt Chiffon Cake some time back but only managed to locate the notes and post this today.  I like to try out different flavours of chiffon cake as I find it light and not filling with less oil and I can indulge in more without batting an eye lid! If you wish to know more about Chiffon cakes and the difference between Chiffon cakes and Angel food cakes, do hop over to Joy of Baking and you'll be enlightened.

W ith Mandarin oranges aplenty at this time of the year I was toying with the idea of baking a cake with these sweet-tangy citrus.   The cake was moist and dense but on the whole it was delicious served as breakfast, tea or as a snack.  What I liked most was the crispy sugary crust.

O range  Bundt cake is another cake that I made recently for the New Year.  This cake is indeed delicious with the addition of orange zest and chocolate powder and I must admit that it was a good combination of flavours.  Thought you may like to try baking this for the coming Chinese New Year which falls on Monday, 23rd January this year.

M ango Trifle ~ a light and refreshing dessert to round up a sumptuous X'mas dinner.  Basically, there's no recipe for this, no hard and fast rule, you just load on what you have at hand, layer by layer, sponge cake or any leftover cake, custard, jam, fruits, whipped cream, whatever you can think of.  Drench it with more alcohol if you want to be intoxicated during this festive season! 

T is the festive season again and the all-time favourite for X'mas is undoubtedly the ubiquitous fruit cake.  This Yoghurt Fruitcake caught my eye when I was browsing through a Food and Travel magazine.  As I've never baked a fruit cake with yoghurt before, I was very eager to try. 

Don't be misconstrued by the word 'coffee' in this 'Blueberry yoghurt coffee cake' as coffee is certainly not an ingredient required in the making of this cake.  Coffee cake is just a class of cakes to be served alongside coffee or tea for breakfast, during coffee/tea breaks or even afternoon tea.  Some may have a streusel or a light glaze drizzle as topping but more often than not  they are flavoured with spices, nuts or fruits.

I have bookmarked Anncoo's  Blueberry Pound Cake for quite some time and was thrilled when I stumbled upon this mini Bundt pan.  I was eager both to try out the recipe as well as the mini pan and was indeed pleased with the result. Mixed Berries mini Bundt Cake (Recipe from Anncoo's Bluberry Pound Cake with slight modification) Ingredients 125 gm butter/margarine 180 gm plain flour 1/2  tsp salt 150 gm caster sugar (orig. 180 gm) 3 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 1 cup plain yoghurt (orig. heavy whipping cream) 250 gm frozen mixed berries Method Grease the mini bundt pan with butter and dust with flour, set aside. Sift the flour with salt and set aside. Mix 1 Tbsp of the above flour into the mixed berries. Cream the butter and sugar till light, creamy and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mix well. Mix in the vanilla. Add 1/4 of the sifted flour, alternating with the yoghurt, starting and ending with flour.  (Do not overmix). Fold in...

This is a very simple chicken dish which I made with whatever ingredients I had in the fridge and pantry.  I was just trying it out and there was no guarantee that it will be good.  Kept my fingers crossed that it'll be at least edible!  Yup, it turned out to be 'not too bad'.  That was the verdict given by my other half who was the guinea pig as well!.

Made this 'Lemon Yoghurt Cake' with the Anolon Bundt tin, a Mother's Day gift from my three musketeers!  I find this bakeware very practical because of the silicone enhanced slip-free handles.....giving it a better grip especially when removing it out from the hot oven!